Teaching people how to make paper bead necklaces like the ones women in Uganda make.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE9XnX7WRog

Mike and I have been World Vision sponsors for 17 years now. You can make a difference in the life of a child impacted by HIV/AIDS by sponsoring a HOPE child through World Vision. Here is a link to my Child Ambassador page. If you have questions, ask! I love to talk about World Vision.

http://tiny.cc/LouanneMason

For those of you who know me well or have been long time readers of our blog,  you know that back in October of 2009 while at the World Vision Annual Day of Prayer I became burdened with the desire to sponsor a water well. Throughout that day of prayer the same thought kept coming back to me: “Women in other countries love their children just as much as I do, but they don’t have the ACCESS to the things I do. Clean water, medicines and nutritious food.” I told Mike about it immediately and that I wanted to find a way to dig a water well – whether it meant our family saved up or doing a fundraiser, I was determined. The next week was my birthday and that caused me to realized that the next year my birthday would be 10.10.10. And then it hit me! Have a Water Well fundraiser birthday party. If you haven’t read the post about it, go here. We raised $5200 – enough for 2 wells!!

I was so excited I couldn’t stand it and cried tears of joy on and off for days.  I was overwhelmed at the thought that life-giving water was going to be provided from my original prayer. I was also grateful to God that I got to raise awareness about the plight of people facing dirty water around the world.

Fast forward to our return home from China. Amelie was going to the bathroom A LOT. And it was toxic smelling. And she had this voracious appetite. Our pediatrician wanted us to collect stool samples like she does for all new adoptees and we collected it and dropped it off. Last week we got the call on Wednesday morning that Amelie had not 1 but 2 parasites. Bleh! The doctor quickly called in the prescription to a pharmacy that could compound it for us and we picked it up and started treating Amelie. Mike and I were really hoping that we had not caught it, but none of us were showing the signs and we always wash our hands after diaper changes.

That night I felt so bad for Amelie since she hasn’t known a day with us that she wasn’t on some kind of medicine. THEN I was so grateful every time I thought about our wonderful access to doctors and medicine of every type here in America. I was so happy that she would be able to get these things out of her system and we could move on. I was texting all of this with my friend Laura and she sent me the sweetest response that made me cry. She said that God often shows us the needs of the poor and needy through our own grief and illness.  She said that at every turn Mike and I work to aid people. She said that now we know on a most personal level what we do for them. She asked me, “How many people have you saved with clean water?”

The more I thought about it, the more I cried. I brought this beautiful child home from halfway across the world. She has been drinking dirty water her entire life and most likely all the kids in her orphanage have parasites. She has been voraciously hungry and crying when the food is gone and she is taken out of her highchair, even when she has eaten twice as much as me in a meal. How long have these parasites affected her? Have they been causing her pain? But now she is on medication that we have easy access to and will always have clean water. Now she has access to clean water just because she now lives in America.

Thank you, God, for this visible object lesson that you have shown me.

The weather was perfect and we had 68 people show up for the event. Then MANY other people mailed checks (which are still coming in) because they wanted to be a part of the event even though they couldn’t make it to the party.

It was so fun to have all the kids there too taking part in the event. Several of the elementary aged kids had questions for me since their parents had told them why we were having the party and what I was trying to accomplish. They asked such good questions and we had a good talk about kids around the world who have to go fetch water each and every day. That they can’t go to school because they are busy getting water to help their moms. This was my favorite part of the night.

Here is Nadia with her best friend Reagan.

Now for the most exciting part! It takes $2600 to dig one water well that will give water to about 150 people a day, plus their livestock and irrigation. I am thrilled at the tangible difference we are going to make in the lives of so many!

The final total was $5200!!!!! Enough for 2 water wells. WOO HOO!! I am so thankful for the generosity of our family and friends. Checks are still coming and I am still taking donations if anyone reading is interested. We are more than halfway to another well and I would like to see how close we can get. I plan on sending the money to World Vision in about 10 days, so that everyone has time to get them to me.

Thanks to everyone who poured out their love for those in need. You are a blessing to me.

The slideshow above was put together by my friend Tiffany with the photos she took on our day trip to Mexico.

A couple weeks ago I went to San Diego for a World Vision conference and on Thursday of that week we headed into Mexico to see one of the WV Area Development Projects (ADP). Mike and I have been sponsors for 15 years now and have never had the chance to see the work ourselves. When World Vision comes into a community the community has to agree to be a part of the work because WV wants to give a “hand up” not a “hand out”. Their goal is to attack the root causes of poverty on all sides to make life better for the entire community.

It was wildly rainy and we were told that Tijuana was experiencing some of it’s worst weather in 26 years. The rain was crazy and at times it was going sideways from the wind. The area that we went to didn’t have paved roads and while we were visiting the road we came in on was flooded out. Getting back to the border was half the adventure of the day and we got to see a lot more of the country.

The people that we met were wonderful. It’s absolutely amazing how many community volunteers this ADP has because the people care about the success of all the families. The women made us a WONDERFUL meal and after we all ate they showed us around the community center.

In the community center they hold classes on pinata making, marshemallow popcicle making, other arts, baking and jello molding. They have a computer center where they teach skills to adults and children. They have a place to teach women beauty shop skills – hair cutting, braiding, highlighting and nails. A great thing about this is that once the women are trained, they can work from home and take care of their children rather than having to go off to a factory all day. They have music classes and soccer teams. The moms even have a soccer team

On the same land they have a day care, cafeteria for the middle schoolers to come for lunch and a clinic. It was so cool to see that because it was clean and stocked. Doctors come in twice a week. It was mentioned that a special thing about this clinic was that it had a door that closed for the women to have their babies in privacy rather than out in the open. Oh how we take these things for granted in America – being able to have a baby in a safe, clean and private environment.

I have been trying to put into words all the stuff going through my mind about this special day. One moment keeps coming back to me from that day. Many of the women spoke to us at the end through the translator to tell us thank you and what kinds of things they do in the community. One woman said, “Thank you for helping me take care of my children.” And then I started to cry. All I could think was that these women love their kids JUST as much as I love Nadia, but they don’t have ACCESS to all the stuff I do. They have the same hopes and dreams for their children as I do for Nadia. They just don’t have access.

So when people ask me why I am so passionate about sponsorship through World Vision – that is why! For just $35 a month you or your family can make a difference to an entire community and especially to your sponsored child and their family. One person can make a difference, I have seen it with my own eyes. And what a blessing to see it with my own eyes after all these years of talking about it.

Do you want to sponsor a child? Just let me know and I will share the picture folders I have with you. Not local? I have a scanner and email Thanks for reading.

It’s estimated that 1/3 of the populalation needs aid. And so many have died that it’s horrifying, but those who have survived need water, food and basic medical supplies.

If you want to give call 1-800-777-5777 or go to worldvision.org

You can make a difference!